Hope's Trial in a Dark War
by AlternateNu
Summary: Re-upload from months ago. Redid the story slightly. I think it sounds a bit better. AU fic and everything is dark, dark, dark...


Disclaimer: You know I don't own digimon, so why even put this up?….to cover my ass, that's why. Oh and a little note…asterisk mean a flashback and straight lines are a scene change. With that….enjoy!  
  
  
  
As Takaishi Takeru viewed the battle from the mammoth cliff he was perched upon, his heart fell, noticing that the outcome would not be pleasant. Even if the chosen were lucky enough to leave this battle alive, they would never be the same again. Already have they lost many of the strongest chosen, and the war was far from over.  
  
How did this all start? It seemed like only yesterday that the Odaiba chosen finally discovered that there were others like them in every part of the world, but that was four years ago. Four years ago, when Oikawa was killed at the hands of viral digimon known as Black WarGreymon, releasing the power of the dark seeds and opening a rift between a bleak alternate universe and the digital world known by all. Four years ago, when the life of a chosen became a living hell. Four years.  
  
**********************  
  
Oikawa collapsed in a pool of his own flowing crimson fluid as Black WarGreymon viciously tore his claw from the human's mangled body. Staggering back, clutching at the enormous hole bored into him by Oikawa's surprise attack, the black dragon man explodes into the bits of digital data which formed his body.  
  
When, a bright, blinding light flashed from Oikawa's form, tearing a hole in the air around the chosen, creating a gust of wind forcing them all into the rift.  
  
They came to, realizing they were in the digital world, only to find that all of the chosen, not just those from Odaiba, were gazing, along side their partner digimon, upon the tear in space above.  
  
All of the chosen were frozen from a mixture of fear, awe, and curiosity until a tiny spec of light glimmered, and the words "Crimson Nail" were heard in the distance. The light turned a bright red then came crashing down upon an unsuspecting chosen mere feet from Takeru, and exploding, launching everyone near by, including Takeru and Iori, into the air and slamming them into the meter high boulders littering the area.  
  
Despite the gash across his forehead and the probable concussion accompanying it, Takeru arose from the dust and pebbles and rushed towards the chosen who was caught in the center of the detonation, only to find a charred, mangled corpse where the chosen once stood. The face was unrecognizable at that point, and sadly enough, this child's partner Mojamon began to disintegrate into its bits of data.  
  
Takeru peered back up towards the rift in utter horror, finding that it already grew to a radius of several miles, and watched as floods of digimon began to invade from the other side. It was then that Takeru knew this would be like no war they ever fought before.  
  
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Explosions rocked both the ground and the sky as swarms of digimon clashed against each other in the seemingly endless struggle against good and evil, while the chosen themselves fought on despite their exhausted states.  
  
"Watch out, Holy Angemon!" Takeru yelled just as he dove to the ground to dodge a blast, which created a crater in the ground in which he was just standing.  
  
"Excaliber!" Holy Angemon said just before ramming his sword through a viral Unimon which attacked Takeru mere seconds ago, causing him to explode into millions of pieces of digital data.  
  
In the distance, Takeru could see battle getting worse. He needed to find the other Odaiba survivors, and quick.  
  
"Holy Angemon, let's go!" With that, Takeru jumped onto his partner digimon's back and flew off towards the center of the chaos.  
  
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"There's our next target, Wargreymon!" Taichi said, pointing at a Giga Dramon that was already on the attack.  
  
"Genocide Gear!" Wargreymon dodged the attack easily, then formed his sphere of elemental energy to launch it at the assaulting digimon.  
  
"Gaia Force!" Much to his surprise, the Giga Dramon was able to counter his attack with another genocide gear.  
  
"How the hell can a perfection level counter that?!" was all Taichi could say before almost getting shredded by a guilty claw attack by the Giga Dramon, though to save Tai, the dragon man digimon absorbed the full brunt of the attack. Clutching the damaged armor around his injured shoulder, WarGreymon threw a clumsy kick that was countered with the greatest of easy by their adversary, forcing WarGreymon into a spiral which nearly flung his human partner into the ravine far below. Another genocide gear was launched and was heading towards the team of Taichi and WarGreymon, when Takeru and Holy Angemon bolted straight for them.  
  
And, as soon as they had the chance, "Heaven's Gate!" A ringed gate of pure light formed directly in front of WarGreymon, intercepting the attack and blinding Taichi for a split second.  
  
"Taichi, jump onto Holy Angemon, now!"  
  
Without a second thought, Taichi leaped from WarGreymon's back onto Holy Angemon's barely hanging on to one of his wings.  
  
"Now, knock that bastard towards us!"  
  
WarGreymon only nodded, "Brave Tornado!" forcing a cyclone of air to rush towards the menacing digimon, launching him straight at the holy angel digimon and the two humans on his back.  
  
Piercing the very fabric of space and time with the blade attached to his arm, Holy Angemon shouted, "Heaven's Gate!" And this time, the gate caught the viral digimon in its grasp and closed, sealing it inside forever.  
  
"Tai, we need to get the other chosen together. We won't be able to win this battle if we don't get organized. There are too many enemies out here to try to take one on one."  
  
"Don't you think I know that?" Taichi snapped, then apologized "Sorry TK, this fighting has been getting to me," rubbing his soiled face in a vain attempt to get a better focus.  
  
"Its all right Tai, we've all been affected, but we need to get going. I want you to get everyone you can up to that cliff just to the east over there," Takeru said pointing his finger wearily to the right.  
  
"I'm going to try to get everyone I can. And remember we need the strongest chosen we can muster, so if a chosen is in trouble only try to save them if they can truly help us at this point. We can't be risking you and WarGreymon right now."  
  
"What the hell do you mean by that, Takeru?!"  
  
"Just do it!" Takeru blurted out, glaring straight into Taichi's eyes.  
  
After a few seconds of uneasy tension, "All right Takeru. Let's go, WarGreymon."  
  
"Got it, Tai."  
  
Takeru just stood there, body tensed, mind focused…that is, until he collapsed, sobbing like a child. "What's happening to me?"  
  
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As Taichi soared, riding on WarGreymon's back, he shouted to all those surviving chosen to retreat, if possible, and meet at the designated rendezvous point. The actual number of chosen he found was incredibly disenchanting to him. Tai could tell they already lost half of the chosen that began this battle. He could only hope that the chosen and digidestined from the other three sectors of the digital world were having better luck.  
  
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After everyone was formed up, Taichi and Takeru realized that Hikari was missing beyond the confirmed deaths of Miyako, Yamato, and Mimi.  
  
"Where is she!?" Takeru asked with an almost insane tone to his voice.  
  
Taichi was just standing there, with a depressing look on his face. "I don't know, TK. She…"  
  
"No…that can't be true! God damnit, that CAN'T be true!" Takeru strained to keep back the tears welling up in his eyes. "She can't be dead!" Takeru screamed running towards the edge of the cliff.  
  
"Takeru don't…," he said, only to see Takeru jump from the cliff edge and be caught by Holy Angemon.  
  
"All right, Holy Angemon. We going out to find Kari, and I'm not coming back until I find her, got it!?"  
  
The winged digimon could hear the hurt exuding from his words and his eyes, and could only nod in acceptance. "Tai, organize the remaining chosen while Takeru and myself are away." Holy Angemon said before flying off to the remains of the previous battle.  
  
"Right," Taichi said, mainly to himself. A few seconds passed before Taichi actually spoke up. "All right guys. This is what we're going to do…"  
  
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Takeru could only hope that Hikari was okay, or at least he could find her before she fell passed the point of no return.  
  
After the death of his older brother, Takeru became rather despondent. He consistently lost his temper and at times, his sanity, it appeared. The only one would could truly ease the pain he was going through was Hikari, and now she was most likely buried in the rubble of the scorched battlefield in front of him.  
  
"HIKARI!!" Takeru screamed at the top of his voice. "HIKARI, WHERE ARE YOU!? PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!……please."  
  
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After hours of searching, Takeru began to believe the worse.  
  
"KARI!…KARI!!!!!…"KAAAAARRRRIIIIiii!" Takeru lowered his voice, collapsing to the ground in a rack of sobs. "Why did you have to leave me? I can't handle this place…this life, without you."  
  
It was then, that Takeru noticed a feather drop beside his dirt encrusted face. He stared at it, finding it to be a reminder of both the happiest events in his life as well as those events that almost consumed his very being. After what seemed like hours mired in thought, Takeru lifted his aching body from ground and his steadfast gaze from the feather to see Angewomon standing above him, holding Hikari's limp form.  
  
"Wha…..where…" Takeru stammered before finally blurting out, "Is she okay?"  
  
"Yes, she took a blow to the head during the last fight, and has been unconscious ever since." Angewomon's voice was incredibly soothing to Takeru, even during this hell of a war, though it was a sharp contrast to the condition her form seemed to be in.  
  
Dirt and dust formed a thin layer on her face, while her arms and legs were covered with scratches and bruises. Takeru was amazed on how she could still maintain her perfection level form with all of the injuries Hikari and herself received.  
  
Takeru was still thanking the stars that Hikari was safe, when his partner angel landed next to them, surveying the area.  
  
"We need to get back to the others. The rendezvous point is more than thirty miles away, and the light from the sky will soon be gone." The digimon said in his trademark, serene voice.  
  
Takeru seemingly calmed down quite a bit by this point, "There's no way we'll make it back to the cliff by nightfall. We need to make a camp somewhere near here."  
  
"There was a patch of trees towards that valley over there. Hikari and I used them as cover during the final part of the battle. I suggest we make camp over there."  
  
"Good idea, Angewomon. Those trees will give us the same cover you had earlier, plus the fact that this'll give you two a rest out of your perfection levels. And, mainly, for Kari. I don't want her to get rushed into a trip, especially in the condition she's in."  
  
The pair of angels nodded in approval. Then Takeru jumped onto Holy Angemon's back, while Hikari was still snug in Angewomon's arms. Takeru was thankful for the rest, thankful for his partners, and especially thankful for Hikari's safety.  
  
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Once they reached the designated campsite, Angewomon laid Hikari onto a smooth cradle-shaped rock formation.  
  
"You two should start resting. I'll take care of the fire and set-up."  
  
"Thanks, TK." Holy Angemon said just before glowing a soft white light along with Angewomon and reverted back to Patamon, while Angewomon reverted past her adult stage back to Plotmon, her child form, similar to Patamon.  
  
"Wow, you must've used up more energy than you thought."  
  
"No, I knew I was going to turn back to this form. That's why I was a little hesitant reverting back. It's going to be difficult to reach my perfection level any time soon."  
  
"Well, what are the chances of us being attacked tonight?" Takeru said, trying to be chipper and trying to form a weak smile.  
  
Plotmon just stared down at the ground trying to avoid answering that question. It relieved her to find Takeru returning to the job at hand.  
  
"Well, I'm done. Sorry if it's a little small, but that's the best I could do right now."  
  
"I understand TK. Don't worry about it." Patamon said floating over and landing on Takeru's head."  
  
He sighed, and tried to look up at Patamon. "You might as well get to sleep right now. Damn, its going to be a long night."  
  
"Are you going to be okay, TK?"  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine Pata." Patamon could hear the weariness apparent in his voice, but reluctantly flapped over to a dirt pile to fall asleep, only to worry about Takeru's health.  
  
"Good night, TK."  
  
"G'night, Pata."  
  
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"I can't fall asleep. It's only a couple more hours till sun up." Takeru said to himself, trying vainly to keep himself awake.  
  
He turned his attention towards the sleeping beauty beside him. He allowed a smile to crack across his face when he lightly brushed his hand across her cheek. He could tell she was resting comfortably.  
  
Even though well aware that she couldn't hear him, he said, "You know, Kari. You're the reason I've stayed to fight for so long. We've both had strong feelings for each other, and I could tell you knew how I felt." He gazes up towards the darkness of the sky above. "Neither of us had to explain our emotions. Its just…after we lost Matt, I…I……I."  
  
He broke down into a light sob. "I didn't know how to handle it. You…you were my anchor to life when I felt all but dead. I just wanted to tell you that."  
  
Looking at the ground, Takeru could feel his eyelids getting heavy with exhaustion, until his body gave out and he fell into a deep slumber.  
  
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"Get him, MetalGarurumon!" Yamato said with an evil grin on his face, pointing at a Deltamon who was already wounded.  
  
It was the heat of battle. All of the Odaiba chosen were busy handling an "other side" digimon, and more seemed to be on the way.  
  
"This is what you get, bastard, for attacking this world. You and all those digimon who accompanied you will pay for what you cost me. My fiancee, the love of my life…you'll all pay for Mimi's death!" Yamato said with a tone of pure hatred.  
  
However, Yamato was too focused to notice the Dinobeemon diving in from the sky.  
  
"Hell's Masquerade!" The viral perfection level digimon shouted before slashing Metal Garurumon across the back, knocking him off balance and into the cliff wall. Then moving his attention to the nearby human, Dinobeemon buzzed "Hell's Masquerade" and jammed a claw straight through Yamato's chest.  
  
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While Takeru lay there slumbering, Hikari's sleep became restless as she began to twitch…a twitch that steadily got worse.  
  
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Taichi ran over from the skirmish he was involved, and focused on the Dinobeemon. "NO!" He turned his head towards his partner. "WarGreymon!"  
  
"Got it!…Gaia Force!" WarGreymon launched a large sphere of energy towards the assailing Dinobeemon vaporizing it instantly.  
  
"Matt!…Matt!" But it was futile, Taichi knew he was gone by the time Takeru arrived at the scene.  
  
Takeru just stared in shock towards the bloody, lifeless heap that was his brother, never saying a word, never moving a muscle. Just staring. After a few seconds, Takeru turned around and walked away with a stare as blank and as lifeless as the look on his departed brother's face.  
  
**********************  
  
"Matt…" Takeru murmured in his sleep before getting woken up abruptly by a high pitched female scream…..wait that could only be one person, right?  
  
"Huh?!…What the hell?" Takeru then realized. "Kari, you're awake." He rushed over to a panting Hikari, embracing her. "Its okay Kari, the battle's over. You survived…we survived."  
  
"No, it's not that. I can feel the darkness!" She shut her eyes…. "It's here!"  
  
"What?!" Takeru said just before the ground under them exploded, launching them in opposite directions. The explosion forced Plotmon and Patamon to jump awake.  
  
"Uhhhggg…Patamon, you have to evolve!"  
  
Takeru's D3 lit up, "Patamon evolve to…" A bright explosion of light, which amazingly did no damage, dissipated revealing the adult digimon known as Angemon.  
  
"Me too!" Plotmon began to glow and formed into her adult stage, Tailmon, before the glow subsided.  
  
"Heaven's Knuckle!" Angemon yelled before firing a stream of white destructive energy towards the assaulting Drimogemon. The attack struck the mole digimon square on forehead, temporarily knocking it unconscious.  
  
"Black Sabbath!" A wave of black energy struck Angemon directly in his back, slamming him into the ground with amazing force, and causing him to devolve back to Patamon.  
  
"Tailmon!"  
  
"Got it, Kari!…Tailmon evolve to…" when suddenly another wave of blackness hitting Tailmon and sending her straight into Hikari's arms.  
  
"Tailmon…Tailmon, wake up!"  
  
"I've seen too much," said Mephismon, a dark digimon with the head and horns of a ram, a humanoid body, and the wings of a bat protruding from his back "You two are the sole reason I have not won this war yet. But I shall remedy that."  
  
Mephismon raised his hand and pointing it towards the female pair…and fired. The wave of darkness pierced straight through Tailmon, causing her to detonate into data, and struck Hikari square on the chest driving the breath out of her and forcing her to gasp for air, after knocking her against a black, burnt tree.  
  
"What! How can this mere human survive that attack?" was when Mephismon got a gleam in his eyes and turned his attention to Takeru and the unconscious Patamon he was carrying.  
  
"Now I remember. Before Quinglongmon died by my hands, he said light would never be snuffed out if hope were still alive. I never thought he would be so literal." A sneer formed over his mouth. "Should've realized that sooner. Well, no matter. My mistake will be short lived."  
  
"BLACK SABBATH!" Mephismon shouted before launching a massive dark projectile at Hope. However, Light absorbed the attack after jumping it's path, sending her to the ground.  
  
"Kari!" Hope said, kneeling beside her. "Why…"  
  
"He said light would never be snuffed out if hope were still alive. That means he can't kill me directly. I just thought…" was all Light could speak before fading off into unconsciousness.  
  
"Kari…Kari. Don't leave. I can't do this by myself. KARI!" When, Hope felt an attack strike him in the back. A beam of darkness so thin, so pure, pierced not only his body, but his entire soul.  
  
Collapsing over his love, the world grew dark; a darkness the world has never seen before.  
  
  
  
  
  
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A/N: Okay, this is my first fanfic, and in my opinion, it came out rather well. I always wanted to do one, but never found the time (I do have a life, after all). The first draft of this thing was going in an almost entirely separate direction than the final one. In fact, everything past the Giga Dramon attack near the beginning was completely different. The original draft had a bit more interaction with both generations of the Odaiba chosen, but this was supposed to be about Hikari and Takeru, so I basically left it at that, that is…except the brief appearances of Taichi and Yamato.  
  
And that brings me to another topic. The whole Mimato deal in the flashback was only there because it was the most believable scenario. Personally, I prefer Mimi to be matched with Jyou, but I won't get into that.  
  
Let's see……..what else. Oh yeah, for those dubbies out there, Quinglongmon is the Japanese name for Azulongmon. And, I didn't make Mephismon up. He has a card in the game. I got all of my attack names and stats from Megchan's Digimon Encyclopedia. www.megchan.com/digimon/encyclopedia.html  
  
(I don't have a clue where I would've been without that. She deserves as much support as she can get)  
  
Now there were actually several reasons I chose Mephismon to "do the deed" and all of the reasons are off of the card actually. First off, his type is a "Fallen Angel Digimon" which made sense, obviously, but mostly for his description and name origin. The card says "In another dimension, an element of Apocalymon's darkness accomplished an evil evolution!" for the description and Megchan traced the name origin to "Greek. Mephistopheles is the name of the devil in the German legend Faust. The name Mephistopheles literally means "he who is not a lover of light."" Now that makes perfect sense doesn't it? Not a lover of light, and the fact that he's from another dimension…I think it was just luck he fit my story that well.  
  
Dinobeemon…you can find a picture and the stats for it at megchan's site. For those too lazy…its basically a virus jogress of XV-mon and Stingmon with Stingmon being the main influence instead of XV-mon.  
  
Now towards the end when I was referring to Hikari and Takeru as Light and Hope…don't ask me about it. I thought it was just a good idea.  
  
Reviews would be greatly appreciated (don't be freaked if I e-mail you a response to your review), and flames are appreciated too (hell, I need to know what I did wrong.) 


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